Mankind has a fascination with measurement. Down the centuries we have produced a plethora of incompatible and duplicatory systems for measuring everything from the width of an Egyptian pyramid to the concentration of radioactivity near a nuclear reactor and the value of the fine structure constant. With the introduction first of the metric system and of its successor the Système International d'Unités (SI), the scientific community has established a standard method of measurement based on only seven core units.
The Encyclopaedia of Scientific Units, Weights and Measures converts the huge variety of units from all over the world in every period of recorded history into units of the SI. Featuring:
- An A - Z of conversion tables for over 10, 000 units of measurements.
- Tables of the fundamental constants of nature with their units.
- Listings of professional societies, and national standardization bodies for easy reference.
- An extensive bibliography detailing further reading on the multifarious aspects of measurement and its units.
This huge work is simply a "must have" for any reference library frequented by scientists of any discipline or by those with historical interests in units of measurement such as archaeologists.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
1 Introduction. - 1. 1 Why a Conversion Handbook? . - 1. 2 How to Use This Book. - 2 The International System of Units. - 2. 1 History. - 2. 2 The General Conference on Weights and Measures. - 2. 3 Organization of the SI. - 2. 4 SI Prefixes. - 3 Other Systems of Units. - 3. 1 MTS, MKpS, MKSA. - 3. 2 Cgs, Gauss, IEUS, a. u. - 3. 3 British and American Systems of Units. - 3. 4 The Foot-Pound-Second (FPS) System. - 3. 5 Ancient and Obsolete Systems of Weights and Measures. - 4 Conversion Tables. - 4. 1 Units in Alphabetical Order. - 4. 2 Conversion Tables Listed by Physical Quantities. - 5 Fundamental Constants. - 5. 1 Fundamental Mathematical Constants. - 5. 2 Fundamental Physical Constants. - 6 Appendices. - 6. 1 Greek Alphaber. - 6. 2 Roman Numerals. - 6. 3 Rules about Large Numbers (> 1000 000). - 6. 4 Date and Time Numerical Representation. - 6. 5 National, Regional and International Standardization Bodies. - 6. 6 Acceleration Due to Gravity at any Latitude and Elevation. - 6. 7 International Practical Temperature Scale (IPTS, 1968). - 6. 8 International Temperature Scale (ITS-90). - 6. 9 French-English Lexicon for Units. - 6. 10 French-English Lexicon for Physical Quantities. - 6. 11 International Clothing and Shoe Sizes (US, UK, Europe, and Japan). - 6. 12 Common Time Acronyms. - 6. 13 Old Alchemical Symbols Used in Astronomy, Chemistry, and Biology. - 6. 14 International Geological Time Scale. - 6. 15 Old Symbols Used in the British System. - 6. 16 Electromagnetic Spectrum. - 6. 17 Standard Paper Sizes (ISO and US). - 6. 18 International Country Code Designations. - 6. 19 International Currency Codes. - 7 Bibliography. - 7. 1 Specific References. - 7. 2 References About the Metric System and the SI. - 7. 3 References of General Interest. - 7. 4 Historical References. - 7. 5 International and National Standards.
